The whole thing has to be taken to the school board. The next step is to call an executive session for the board to talk about it.
We're erring on the side of believing the high reading. We decided to shut that gym down and do more testing to find out if it's zero, if it's high or if it's somewhere in the middle.
This is good news for Salem-Keizer. That's roughly equivalent to 1 percent of our yearly budget and will be considered in the budget process, which continues during the next couple of months.
That will give them four days before the kids come back for staff meetings, getting their rooms ready and training.
I would not advise people to worry about it, but they should be aware of it. We're definitely being aggressive to find out what we have and what we should be doing about it.
We want parents to talk to kids. It's free speech. We can't stop students from participating. But if they do this, first of all, it's skipping school. And second, talk to them about safety. If you're walking across town, be careful.
It wasn't every single school, but certainly there's an indication that at at least some schools there were very significant absences above the average.
